Lawyer: Governor's Chief of Staff recorded on state email use

An Albuquerque attorney says he has a recording of Governor Susana Martinez's chief of staff, Keith Gardner, telling one of his clients that he never uses state email to conduct business because he didn’t want to "go to court (or) jail."

Defense attorney Sam Bregman released the audio Tuesday. He represents fired Department of Corrections worker Larry Flynn in a wrongful termination case. It was in that case that the Martinez administration's use of private email accounts was first revealed.

Bregman, a Democrat, says the secret recording is of a conversation between Gardner and his acquaintance, Brian Powell of Roswell. Powell told Bregman he made the recording when he and Gardner were having a conversation about family issues.

The New Mexico Capitol Report reports Gardner responded to the allegations, saying the clip of tape was taken out of context and that he plans to file an ethics complaint against Bregman.